World Cycling Championships 2024: 85 hundredths - Germany takes silver behind Australia in the mixed relay

After more than an hour and 53.7 kilometres, 85 hundredths were the deciding factor. Australia won gold in the elite mixed relay at the World Championships in Zurich. The Germans led the way with Marco Brenner, Miguel Heidemann, Maximilian Schachmann, Franziska Koch, Antonia Niedermaier and Liane Lippert. Australia was the fourth-last team. Jay Vine, Ben O'Connor, Michael Matthews, Grace Brown, Brodie Chapman and Ruby Roseman-Gannon knew the times of their closest rivals at the start and then again at the end and used the advantage of the later start to gain a mini lead.

Both the German men and the women delivered a strong performance, particularly in the first part of the course, which featured many bends and, above all, a lot of metres in altitude. Both teams of three delivered the top time at the intermediate classification. However, the men then had to let Australia and Italy pass them again.

Australia with an average of 650 watts over the first mountain

Then it was mainly U23 time trial world champion Niedermaier who rode a large part of the course from the front. Her counterpart among the Australians was elite world champion and Olympic champion Brown. The 35-year-old, who will end her career after the season despite winning various titles last year, pulled Chapman along with her. Nevertheless, the Australians lost second after second. Nevertheless, the lead that Matthews and Co. had pulled out was enough in the end.

"When we crossed the finish line with the best intermediate time, we could be confident because we knew that we still had a women's team that could get everything over the line," he said in the winner's interview, adding that his team rode the first climb with an average of 650 watts. Brown added: "I feel a bit greedy now that I've won another rainbow jersey. But it's a very nice one because I was able to win it with the team. As close as it was, it's hard to say what made the difference in the end, there were so many opportunities for that tiny difference."

Brenner: "Better than expected"

The German camp refrained from analysing where exactly the crucial second might have been lost. "0.8 seconds is annoying, but you're always smarter afterwards. I don't think we could have done any better and have nothing to criticise ourselves for. We ran a good race and did the best we could," said Antonia Niedermaier after the award ceremony. Relay debutant Brenner added: "The women delivered as expected and we men were better than expected. I'm very happy with the result."

>> Routes and schedule of the 2024 World Cycling Championships

World Cycling Championships 2024 results: Elite mixed relay - the top 10

1. Australia 1:12:52 hours
2. Germany +0:01
3. Italy +0:08
4. France +0:24
5. Denmark +2:06
6. USA +2:17
7. Canada +2:42
8. Switzerland +2:52
9. Spain +3:50
10. Austria +4:51

World Cycling Championships 2024 - How the elite mixed relay went

Divided into two starting blocks, ten teams started the race and it was clear that they would not be in contention for the medals. Between Rwanda, Mongolia, China and Algeria, Ukraine set the fastest time of 1:19:52 after three men and three women. Because the men and women took the same lap and chaos would have been inevitable if they had set off together, there was a break of more than an hour between the starts of Estonia and Canada.

In the second starting group, what was already apparent beforehand continued. The steep climb on the Zurich mountain road meant that hardly any of the teams were able to make it over the 17 per cent gradient. The German team managed it and ultimately had the best time after the first measuring point, which primarily covered the uphill part of the race. But it was close. Italy followed four seconds behind, Australia five seconds behind. France with eight seconds and the USA with eleven seconds also remained within reach.

By the handover from the men to the women, the picture had already changed. Australia had taken command and delivered the best time in 33:44 minutes. Eight seconds behind was Italy in second place, with Germany taking 22 seconds longer. The French were a further second behind.

The Swiss were already clearly beaten, finishing more than a minute and a half behind and thus lagging far behind their ambitions. The Swiss had won the last two events.

Lippert and Niedermaier put on an incredible performance

And so it was onto the women's lap. There, Lippert and Niedermaier in particular - Koch was quickly left behind - delivered a huge performance on the uphill section of the course up to the intermediate measurement. The 22-second gap to the Australians had become six. Italy was in between. France seemed to have dropped out of the medal race, now 47 seconds behind.

What followed was a seconds thriller that intensified even further. Germany took the lead - then came Australia. Cheered on and knowing the times, Brown and Chapman saved 0.85 seconds. Italy - where Longo Borghini had to do all the work for the rest of the course after Paladin fell off - was eight seconds behind at the finish.